Kyrie Irving expected to miss at least one game with facial fracture

Smashed in the face by teammate Aron Baynes’ elbow in the first quarter of Friday’s victory over the Hornets, a ‘minor facial fracture’ will likely force Celtics guard Kyrie Irving out of Sunday’s head-to-head with the Raptors at TD Garden.

Monitored for a potential concussion, the facial fracture actually seems like a best-case scenario kind of result for Irving, who was bloodied on the blow and rushed to the locker room, and is expected to sideline him for just one game.

Upon his return, it’s believed the 6-foot-3 Irving will sport a mask (similar to the one sported by Pistons icon Rip Hamilton or NBA legend Jonas Jerebko last season) for at least two weeks. If that happens, it will be the third time in Irving’s NBA career that he’s donned a mask to play through an injury.

A greater workload will surely come Terry Rozier and Shane Larkin’s way in Irving’s brief absence. Rozier has been a revelation for the C’s this season, with 9.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, while Larkin scored a game-high 18 points on Friday.

Irving leads the Celtics, who have won 11 games in a row, with 20.3 points per game.

Blog dedicated to the best team in the NBA – the Boston Celtics! Follow for the latest and up to date Boston Celtics rumors, news, score, game recaps and more! The articles posted are from multiple RSS feeds and give a link back to the original source if you’d like to read them there.